Organizers
Doug McConnell & Don Macdonald's open water experience includes the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Island of Manhattan, and Hawaii's Ka'iwi Channel. They bring this experience to the 1st open water urban swim event in the Chicago River.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Awesome opportunities exist for this first time world class event in Chicago. Different opportunities exist for every sponsorship level.
Register
Registration will open soon. Watch this page for more information. Date to be determined. This is expected to be an annual event.
Since 1993
The Chicago River Swim
Start: Ping Tom Memorial Park
End: Clark Street Bridge
Distance: 2.4 Miles
Date: To Be Announced
The Chicago River is a unique and majestic feature that is tightly linked to Chicago's identity. With the overall improvement of the Chicago River, we bring the world's fastest growing sport - open water swimming - to the stadium of bridges and walkways that have been built to witness this event.
There is a charity component to this event, benefiting ALS Research (Lou Gehrig's Disease.) A Long Swim is an open water swimming venue that uses peer to peer fundraising to support Chicago's world class ALS research at Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Chicago River Swim from Douglas McConnell on Vimeo.
Get in Touch
Sponsors, pro bono experts and volunteers needed to make this first event a successful annual open water swim in the Chicago River.